ICJ Advisory Opinion - 10 years on
[20 July 2014] – This July marked the 10th anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s construction of a wall in the West Bank. In expressing its opinion, the world’s highest court considered a range of legal issues relating to Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian territory including:
- East Jerusalem and the West Bank are occupied territories in which Israel has the status of occupying Power. Israel has no sovereign rights over these areas. (It was unecessary for the Court to consider the status of Gaza for the purposes of the opinion); and
- The Fourth Geneva Convention applies in full to East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Provisions in the Convention include the prohibition on the construction of settlements and the detention of prisoners outside occupied territory.
In determining that Israel’s construction of the wall violated international law, the Court noted that any State is permitted to build a wall within its own territory for any reason. However, in the case of Israel’s wall, the overwhelming majority of its route (85 per cent) is constructed outside Israel on Palestinian territory and is accordingly illegal. Ten years on, over 62 per cent of the Wall has been completed and the number of Israeli citizens living in settlements outside Israel in defiance of international law has increased by 150,000, or 33 per cent.
In reaching its conclusions, the Court had regard to a number of legally binding Security Council resolutions, which to this day, remain unimplemented.
|
S.C. Res.
|
Date
|
Details
|
Status
|
|
1967
|
Calls for the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.
|
Not implemented
|
|
|
1969
|
Reaffirming the established principle that acquisition of territory by military conquest is not admissible. The Security Council calls upon Israel to observe the Geneva Conventions concerning military occupations, and condemns Israel for violating UN Resolutions, and warns Israel that if it does not stop, then the Security Council will then take the next steps toward achieving enforcement.
|
Not implemented
|
|
|
1971
|
All legislative and administrative actions taken by Israel to change the status of Jerusalem, including expropriation of land, transfer of populations and legislation aimed at the incorporation of the occupied section, are totally invalid.
|
Not implemented
|
|
|
1979
|
Affirming that the Geneva Conventions apply and that the Israeli settlements are not valid, and are a serious obstacle to peace.
|
Not implemented
|
|
|
1980
|
All legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel which have altered or purport to alter the status of Jerusalem are null and void.
|
Not implemented
|
|
|
1990
|
Urges the Government of Israel to accept de jure applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to all the territories occupied by Israel since 1967.
|
Not implemented
|
|
|
1992
|
Reaffirms the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to all the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem.
|
Not implemented
|
|
|
1994
|
Reaffirming applicability of Geneva Conventions (1949) to the Israeli occupation.
|
Not implemented
|
|
|
|
|||
To date no effective steps have been taken to implement the opinion of the Court.
